Gripper gauge



Feb. l5, 1949.

R. G. LYNN GRIPPER GAUGE Filed March 6, 1946 [N V EN TOR.

Patented Feb. 15, 1949 STAT-Es- PATENT OFFICE This"inveritionwrel-atesitozgauges :and .more "particularlyrfaffgauge?for rinsefinvsettirngr:11tlf1erpaper grippers .on Aaroyllilnder printing press.

In running whatare known as register jobs through printingipresses*whereextreme accuracy.` .5

isf required in registering.thematterzto be-imprinted on the paper or other;frnaterial;Y the .setting of the .papergrippersis quiteimportant so as to provide-uniform"gripping'action throughout-dthel width of the sheet-of materialgpassing4 lzthrough :the press. toinsurefaccurate :registering iofrthenrprintedmatter.

1 Heretoforeoit has, been .thepracticelxto setl the ffgrippers.-dependingupon the f feel for` f-guess .,oithej person setting them, resulting quite: forten". zintjuneven :setting of` the .grippers withzthe sresult f. .oiuneven-rpressure on ,the hmaterial and :considerable spo-ilage of the material through improper registering of the imprinted matter.

An object of the present invention is to provide a gauge whereby the grippers may be accurately and uniformly set to provide any predetermined pressure on the material depending upon the pressure required to provide most eilicient operation upon the material being printed, with uniform pressure throughout the entire width of the sheet of material, and such a gauge which is simple in construction, easily operated and easily read so that it may be advantageously employed by a person unskilled in the use of gauges.

With these and other objects in View, as may appear from the accompanying specificati-on, the invention consists of various features of construction and combination of partsy which will be rst described in connection with the accompanying drawings, showing a gripper gauge of a preferred form embodying the invention, and the features forming the invention will be specifically pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a face view of the improved gauge.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the internal mechanism of the gauge.

Figure 3 is a section through the gauge casing showing the internal mechanism of the gauge in side elevation.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the manner of using the gauge.

Figure 5 is a side view of the gauge showing the opening in the housing.

Referring more particularly to the drawings the improved gauge includes a housing I having one side or its front open, a transparent cover 2 closes the open front of the housing I and is held in place by a removable binding ring 3.

A mechanism carrying plate 4 is located in the housing -I and is held in place by the transparent cover 2 and the offset portion 5 of the rim of the housing I. The carrying plate 44 has a scale 6 inrprinted or etched on the front thereof which indicatesdegrees of pressure. A pointer 'I co-operates 'with the scale S and is'mounted on a shaft yi? which is rotatably carried by a suitable bracket "Sfattached'to the back of the carrying 'plate' 4.

A tensioning coil spring I6 has one end attached in any'suitable manner to the carrying platefll'and Aits other end is attached to a plate ori-member. IB which is in turn connected to the "Shaft J8. A exible Icord Il is attached to the ^member-or=plate IB and extends out of the housing I through asu'itable opening lila therein. The

*ilexibletcordywhich is preferably' soft wire has a fcontactorgrippertab I2 securely attached to its Ifreeffendfandthis `tab I2 is of thin sheet metal "fandrlis lslightly curved transversely as vclearly fshow'n'in Figures land l4 of theI drawings to Acooperate with the gripper fingers It of a cylinder printing press a part of which is indicated vat A in Figure 4.

If desired, a flat bowed steadying spring I 5 has one end connected in any suitable manner to the bracket 9 and the other end attached to the shaft 8 as clearly shown in Figure 2 of the drawings. The steadying spring I5 provides a steadying re'- sistance to the movement of the needle i and acts to maintain a slight tension on the tensioning coil i6 and thus maintain pointer I in a substantially fixed position near the lower end of the scale when the cord I I is exerting no force thereon.

When setting the gripper fingers I4 of the printing press A to provide the proper and desired pressure on the material passing through the Dress, the set screws I6 are loosened and the gripper finger set with the tab I 2 of the gauge under the material engaging end of the gripper finger. The set screw is then tightened and by pulling the tab i2 out from under the gripper linger the pressure exerted by the gripper nger will be indicated by the pointer l on the scale 6,

thus an accurate determination of the pressure.

exerted by the gripper linger may be determined, and by using the gauge with all of the gripper fingers of the press all of them may be uniformly set to exert the same or a uniform pressure across the sheets of material passing through the press, thus preventing cooking or misplacement of parts of the sheet and insuring proper registration or placement of the matter being imprinted on the sheet.

It will be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the specific construction or arrangement of parts shown but is capable of other embodiments falling within the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:

l. In a gauge having a housing, a circular scale, a -carrying plate attached to the housing, apointer rotatably carried by said plate and disposed to sweep the scale, an arm depending from thev pointer, a, spring connected to the arm and to the plate to yieldably bias the pointer in one direcy tion, said housing provided with an opening suitably spaced from said arm, a cord passing through v said opening and attached to said arm so that the tension thereon moves the pointer in the other direction, the edges of said opening providing a flexing point for said cord whereby the' direction of pull of the cord on the arm is always the same, a pretensioning spring connected to said pointer and to said carrying plate to maintain said pointer at a substantially xed point near the lower end of said scale when the cord is exerting no force thereon, said cord extending outside' of the house ing, and a tab attached to the cord outside of the housing whereby when the tab is inserted between engaging contact members and the gauge is moved from the members the tension in the cord will oppose the spring force and rotate the pointer to indicate on the scale the pressure between the engaging members.

2. In a gauge having a housing, a circular scale, a carrying plate attached to the housing, a pin rotatably mounted on said plate, a pointer connected to the pin for rotation therewith and disposed to sweep the scale, a lever arm connected to the pin to rotate said pin and pointer, said housing provided with an opening suitably spaced from said lever arm, a cord passing through said opening and attached to said arm, the edges of said opening providing a flexing point for said cord whereby the direction of pull of the cord is always the same, a spring connected to the housing and to the arm, a pretensioning spring connected to said pointer and said carrying plata,

said springs and cord constructed and arranged to opposingly bias the pointer in opposite directions and to maintain said pointer at a substantially fixed po-int near the lower end of the scale when the cord is exerting no force thereon, said cordextending outside said housing, and a tab attached to the cord outside the housing whereby when the tab is inserted between engaging contact members the pressure between the members will create a tension on the cord when the gauge is moved away from said engaging members which will be transmitted to the pointer and read on the scale and thereafter returned to a zero set by the spring members when the pressure releases.

' ROBERT G. LYNN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 290,840 Blakeslee Dec. 25, 1883 415,221 vSands Nov. 19, 1889 431,205 Gilllan July 1, 1890 836,752 Greg Nov. 27, 1906 1,296,932 Dodge Mar. 11, 1919 2,013,938 Williams Sept. 10, 1935 2,077,510 Boehler Apr. 20, 1937 

